Why Do LGBT People Smoke Up to 200 Percent More than Straight People?

So we're a little more than three weeks into the New Year, and we imagine that a number of folks have "quit smoking" as one of their top resolutions for 2009.  (Including, perhaps, our 44th President?)  And though more and more locations are placing a ban on public smoking, cigarettes remain quite popular in LGBT circles.

That's according to the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network, which estimates that LGBT people smoke anywhere from 35 to 200 percent more cigarettes than straight people.  Further, the group estimates that between 35-40 percent of LGBT people smoke nationwide.

Why is that?

Karyn Haney, the openly lesbian project coordinator for Chicago's Howard Brown Health Center’s “It’s a Bitch to Quit” program, has a theory.

"“People..aren’t necessarily saying 'I’m smoking because I’m gay.'  But there are stressors that push the LGBT numbers higher,” she said.  Stressors are certainly one complication, as using smoking as a coping mechanism to deal with social isolation and lack of acceptance is a pretty common phenomenon.  There's also the social element of smoking.

But could cigarette companies be to blame?  Perhaps, says the National LGBT Tobacco Control Network.  "[Tobacco companies] have been telling us how they support us, [while] not actually supporting us.  The tobacco industry has played us like a violin by framing advertising messages like civil rights messages."

Are they right?  Have tobacco companies reaped benefits from framing their advertising under the banner of civil rights?  When Benson & Hedges unveiled a new cigarette in 1992, they solely marketed it in gay publications first, including Genre.  Here's what a spokesman for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Center said at the time about the ad: "It makes sense for Madison Avenue to target our community," said David Smith, spokesman for the Gay and Lesbian Community Service Center in Los Angeles. "There is a sizable chunk of dollars that we spend and those companies are starting to acknowledge our existence. The right wing has actively tried to undermine our civil liberties by keeping us invisible and this acknowledgement is a problem for their agenda. The ad in Genre sends a positive message."

The American Cancer Society estimates that 30,000 LGBT people die each year from smoking.  The New York Times has said that the LGBT community has the highest rate of smoking of any minority population.  Given those alarming facts, is it really a good thing to have tobacco companies financially supporting the LGBT community, or is the catch-22 too much of a sacrifice?